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Home Emergency Cover

Home emergency home protection – a helping hand when you need it the most

Every home insurance policy covers fire, flood and theft. However, when it comes to your boiler breaking down or your pipes bursting, it’s a different story. This is where home emergency cover comes in. Read on to discover how this inexpensive insurance can give every homeowner complete peace of mind.

What is home emergency?

Whether your boiler’s on the blink, your drain’s blocked or you’ve locked yourself out, home emergency cover guarantees a rapid response. With a network of experts to call on and no excess to pay, this valuable insurance covers a wider range of emergencies than most standard home insurance policies. Here’s our guide to the help you can expect.

Plumbing and drainage emergencies

With home emergency cover, there’s no need to spend hours hunting for a reliable plumber. Burst pipes, leaks resulting in water damage and issues with your water supply are all covered. Simply phone your insurer’s emergency number and they’ll arrange for an expert to sort out the problem.
You might be surprised to know that some home emergency policies even cover dripping taps. Overflow pipes are also included, as are blocked drains. However, be aware that you may not be covered if the blockage is due to an avoidable build up of fats or oils.
Pipes outside the boundary of your home are normally excluded from home emergency cover, as are leaks from showers, baths or sinks.

Heating emergencies

Cover for your central heating boiler and radiators is a key feature of all home emergency policies. Your allocated engineer will do everything possible to bring your boiler back to life, replacing parts where possible. Pipes and radiators are also covered.
Our most popular home emergency cover even includes an annual service to keep your boiler in tip top condition.

Electrical and gas supply emergencies

A decent home emergency policy will cover damage to your internal gas supply pipe. However, if you do suspect a leak, you must report it to the National Gas Emergency Service, as they’ll need to isolate it before any repair takes place.
Electrical emergencies are also included in home emergency cover. So if you temporarily lose your power supply, your insurer will arrange for an engineer to restore it as quickly as possible.

Security emergencies

Lost your keys? Don’t panic! Simply phone your cover providers and they’ll arrange for an expert to gain access to your home. Your policy will also include replacing or temporarily fixing any broken or damaged doors, locks and windows.

Roofing emergencies

With storms predicted to become more intense due to climate change, it’s good to know that home emergency cover includes repair to storm damaged roofs. So whether a tree has damaged your roof or you’ve lost some tiles, your insurer will send an expert to carry out a repair or provide a replacement. Your guttering and downpipes are also covered.

Infestation emergencies

If critters make your skin crawl and you’re repulsed by rats, you’ll be glad to know that home emergency cover includes dealing with pest infestations. This is an important benefit, because as well as being a nuisance, some pests can cause damage and disease.
It’s worth checking which pests are covered by your policy, as exclusions can apply. Need further advice? Head over to the British Pest Control Association’s website, where there’s plenty on offer..

Toilet emergencies

If your toilet’s flushing mechanism fails, your insurer will consider this to be an emergency. Don’t despair! An experienced plumber will quickly be dispatched to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, home emergency cover doesn’t generally include cracked toilets or cisterns. Damaged sinks, baths and showers are also excluded.

How to claim

If you experience an emergency in your home, ring your provider’s emergency contact number and they’ll arrange for an approved engineer to visit you. Never try and arrange a repair yourself, as you may find that your costs aren’t fully reimbursed.

Smart Cover’s Home Emergency Cover offers excess free protection for your home, 365 days a year. Claim lines are open 24/7 and all repairs are guaranteed for 12 months. Our cover even includes unlimited call-outs, as well as an annual boiler service.
Why not get covered today and enjoy complete peace of mind?

Tumble Dryer

Common Tumble Dryer Problems And How To Easily Fix Them

1: Door Switch

If the door is open, the door switch will keep the dryer from starting. During the time clothes are tumbling in the washer and dryer, the clothes get jolted around and their fibres (or threads) start to break apart. The fibres or other remains collect around the door gasket or switch. This build-up of debris can prevent the door from closing completely and engaging the switch. If this is your problem, you will be happy to know it’s an easy fix and something you can prevent in the future by cleaning on regular occurrences. If you’re certain the door switch is faulty, someone may need to open the cabinet to troubleshoot and replace the switch, depending on your model and manufacturer.

2: Wrinkled Clothes

If you find that after using your dryer your clothes are wrinkled, there are a couple things that may be the cause. All of which are easy to fix and won’t require you to use a screw driver!

Possible Causes:

Clothes were not quickly removed from the dryer.
No fabric softener was used.
Too many or too few items.
Incorrect level of water.
Water may be too hot for the clothing.
Wash and dry cycles may be incorrect.

Solution:

Remove clothing Promptly from the dryer and fold or hang immediately.
The permanent-press cycle will help lower the amount of wrinkling by having a cool down cycle before it finishes.
Don’t dry numerous loads at the same time.
Don’t mix heavy and light clothing items together.

3: Does Not Tumble

There are numerous reasons why your dryer’s drum isn’t tumbling, but the most common reason is a defective belt, especially if the motor is running. When the dryer’s belt is worn/broken it won’t be able to turn the drum. To get your dryer working again you will need someone to replace the belt. Be sure to buy the correct belt for your model of tumble dryer. Place the new belt on the drum where the old belt had been, and wind it onto the idler pulley and the motor pulley.

4: No Heat
The most common fault experienced with a tumble dryer is that it is no longer providing any heat. Thankfully in most situations, this is an easy fault to fix as it often requires no more than resetting the tumble dryer, which can be done by pressing the reset button usually found at the back of the appliance. If there is not a button, then someone would need to look for things such as blockages, the heater being faulty or the thermostat being faulty.

5: Making a Funny Noise

If your tumble dryer is making a banging noise it is most likely keys, coins or things left in pockets, so always check the pockets before you put them in the tumble dryer. If it is not something from the pockets it could be a problem with the drum itself, for example the drum scraping on something inside the machine. As your dryer gets older moving parts will show signs of wear and can sometimes begin to make strange noises so don’t panic if you start to hear squeaking noises.

6: Your Clothes Take Too Long To Dry

If you’ve noticed your clothes are taking longer than normal to dry it may be as simple as cleaning your lint filter. The lint filter is supposed to catch the lint and allow air to flow, however if you don’t clean it regularly enough it can make your dryer have to work harder than necessary.

How we help

Unless you are a trained and confident engineer, it’s very important not to try and fix the appliance yourself, this can cause even more damage as a number of things could go wrong. Don’t forget here at Smart Cover we offer breakdown insurance on all kitchen appliances, including tumble dryer! We use trusted engineers in many locations, meaning when you need help you are closer than you think to a helping hand.

Contact us via our website or call us on 03333 449 559 if you would like to find out more, our customer service team will be happy to help with any questions or queries.

Travel Insurance

Everything You Need To Know About Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is the best way of making sure you’re in safe hands while abroad/on holiday. Travelling without insurance puts you at risk of paying thousands of pounds if anything happens whilst your away. If you have travel insurance while going abroad, you are guaranteed to be covered for things such as medical care, stolen baggage and a lot more depending on which provider you choose.

Most policies include cover for:

Emergency medical expenses
The cost of cancelling, delaying or cutting your trip short
Personal liability (for example if you were sued for damaging or causing injury to somebody or their property)
Lost/ stolen bags

If you are buying travel insurance, make sure you are covered on at least both medical expenses and getting home as these are two essentials. Note that baggage and cancellation cover may be added as additional extras but are to both just as important to have.

What should your travel insurance policy include?

Travel insurance policies do vary, and each come with different cover, so it’s important to know what kind of policy would benefit you the most. Below I am going to list eight things that all travel policies should include, these are the things you want to make sure your policy contains as they will benefit you the most.

Getting you back home – If your abroad or on holiday and you must fly back home in an emergency, cover should provide the costs of emergency return to the UK, however any treatment/surgery which can wait until you return to the UK would not be covered.
Missed departure – This will cover costs of accommodation and travel expenses if you miss your departure flight/boat or train due to situations out of your control for example public transport delays or being in an accident on the way. Always make sure you allow yourself enough time to get to the airport, station or port as if you didn’t then you won’t be covered. If you break down, you will have to provide a report from the breakdown company to prove evidence that it happened.

Cancellation – If you cancel or shorten your trip you will be covered for any travel and accommodation costs you have paid for and are unable to claim back. Many policies will only cover cancellations under there terms and conditions so always check before proceeding.
Medical expenses – Cover towards any costs of emergency medical and surgical treatment while you are abroad. Any treatment that can wait until you return to the UK according to medical opinion would not be covered.

Delay – If there are delays to your plans while travelling, for example due to weather or mechanical breakdowns the insurer will pay a contribution depending on how long the delay was. If the delay was already known about before you travelled, then you won’t be covered.
Baggage – If your baggage Is lost/stolen/damaged or destroyed you will be covered. You will need to report all losses within a certain time and get a report from your airline if it was them that lost your baggage.
Travel abandonment – If you must cancel your trip/journey this cover will refund your travel and accommodation expenses. Policies will only cover you in certain circumstances so make sure you check the terms and conditions.
Personal liability – If you are liable to pay damages due to accidental injury to someone or for loss/damage to someone’s property.

Your travel insurance policy should include all the above features; however, some policies include extras such as:

Dental emergency – If you are required emergency dental treatment while you’re away they will provide cover towards the costs of emergency dental treatment while your away. Non-emergency treatment is not usually covered.
Cash – Covers you for loss or damage to money held as cash.
Money – If you have money/cheques or pre-paid tickets that have been lost or stolen they will replace the money. You will not be covered if you don’t claim the loss/theft of money to the police within 24 hours of discovering it and getting a written police report.
Loss of passport – Provides cover towards additional travel and accommodation expenses because of needing to replace a lost passport. If you do not have receipts for the additional expenses you won’t be covered.
Terrorism – Covers your medical costs in the event of an act of terrorism. Some insurers cover certain things and extras such as baggage damage so make sure to check the terms and conditions.

Don’t fall for the cheap prices

When it comes to travel insurance the cheapest is not always the best and sometimes spending that little more will end up benefiting you. There are many different policies and the right one for you may not always be the cheapest one available. If the policy is the right one for you it is worth paying a few extra pounds, as getting the cheapest one may stop you for claiming when you need to.

When you’re looking for your policy make sure to look at the benefits and features, a really good way to get the best deal is writing a list of all the features you want or need, looking on comparison sites and filtering what you want on your list.

Do you need travel insurance if you own a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)?

If you own an EHIC you get the same level of medical care as someone who lives in the country your visiting and the card is valid in all European economic area countries. What you need to remember Is that the country your visiting may not have the level of care that you may want, for example they may not have the same as what you get in the UK. Having an EHIC card may benefit you when buying travel insurance as there is a chance they won’t ask you to pay the excess on your medical claims. Even if you own an EHIC card it is still recommended to buy travel insurance as the EHIC card is not enough by itself.

Things to consider:

As all travel insurance policies are different you must choose carefully what one will benefit you the most. If you are taking part in dangerous activities while away such as adventure sports or skiing then you probably wont be covered as part of a standard travel insurance policy and might need to pay for extra cover.
If you’re 65 or over and have a medical condition you may need specialist insurance.

If you have any kind of medical condition it is important to tell your insurer if your asked, even if you think its not important. If you do not do this, you are at risk of invalidating your insurance policy.
Check that your policy covers you for the destination your going to, policies do vary, and you never know what you’re signing up for, some providers will include all countries, some won’t include specific countries for many different reasons. For example, Turkey is sometimes put under European cover and sometimes its not, worldwide cover doesn’t always include the USA, it can all be confusing so making sure to read the policy carefully is important.

How we help

Don’t forget here at Smart Cover we can help you with the right travel insurance that will protect you and your family on holiday!

Contact us via our website or call us on 03333 449 559 if you would like to find out more, our customer service team will be happy to help with any questions or queries.

Queen Mothers Guild Interview

We spoke with a president at Queen Mother’s Clothing Guild, Mary Guppy!

Can you tell me about QMCG and what it is all about?

Queen Mother’s Clothing Guild is all about helping people in need. During the summer months all the charities on our current list are contacted by the Secretary asking them to send in a list of the type of clothing they would like to receive. We collect new items, such as clothing, gloves, scarves, towels and give them to people who need it. We only collect new items because many of the recipients have never owned anything new. For them to receive new items gives them warmth, comfort and dignity.

How long has it been running?

Queen Mothers Clothing Guild was founded in 1882 by Lady Wolverton, so it’s been 136 years.

Can you tell me about the work the organisation does?

So, Queen Mother’s Clothing Guild Donates new clothes to 69 different charities in England and Scotland, in order for us to keep doing this and for the organisation to carry on going we have to raise a very large amount of money per year. All clothing and linen donated during the year arrives at St. James’s Palace on the first morning of Packing Week. Everything is then unpacked and counted before being distributed to its stall. There are stalls dealing with Neonatal, Babies, Children 2-5 years, Children 6-16 years, Women, Men, Linen and also a collection called ‘Various’ which has shoes, knitted blankets, bed socks, bed jackets, hats, scarves and many other things.

How did you become involved with QMCG?

I was introduced to it by a friend of mine who was a president for QMCG, I started off as a helper, then I became vice president and 5 years ago I become a president.

As a president and Executive Committee, could you explain your roles?

Along with other people we go and visit anyone who may need help, we work out the financial arrangement and we have the responsibility of choosing the people who need help the most. Two presidents have to visit the charities.

When did you become an Executive Committee?

I became an executive committee at the beginning of 2017, I was elected by the other members of the executive committees.

What’s it like being a president and Executive Committee?

We are very busy, we try to help as many people as we can, but the role is very satisfying and rewarding, I enjoy it very much.

Does QMCG have any goals for this year?

Our goal is just to carry on what were doing and raise as much money as possible and help as many people possible.

How can people get involved?

We are grateful to anyone who would like to donate. By helping us you really are helping so many others, a gift no matter how small, for example a pair of gloves or socks can make somebody’s day! If you want to contribute items, then you can contact the QMCG secretary at secretary@qmcg.org.uk who will put you in touch with your nearest group.

How To Prepare Your Car For Winter

Winter is here, and we all know the difficulties that come with driving during winter months; frozen windows, snow on the windscreen, freezing steering wheel and foggy weather. It’s not just frustrating and time-consuming to fix, it can also be dangerous when traveling in these conditions. We have put together 8 steps you can follow to prepare your car for winter.

1: Get your car serviced

If your car is due a service within the next 3 months, consider doing it before winter really sets in. The winter weather can cause problems for cars but servicing your car before the winter can prevent many problems that may occur otherwise. Some garages will offer a discounted, sometimes even free winter service, so take advantage of this.

2: Top up the engine coolant with antifreeze

Engine coolant is supposed to be a 50% mix of water and antifreeze. It is common that people tend to top up the water over the course of the year, meaning in cold temperatures the antifreeze gets over diluted and freezes. If you don’t top up the antifreeze, you could end up with a large repair bill due to the engine overheating.

3: Clean your lights

Its important in the winter that lights, indicators and rear reflectors are clean and in working order. For example, in foggy weather, if your fog/ full beam lights are not working it can be dangerous as other drivers may not see you. Clean all lights and if needed, get them fixed so they are in full working order.

4: Check the battery

Checking the battery should be one of the first things you do. The winter weather and cold temperatures mean you increase the use of lights and the heater, which puts extra strain on the battery. Your battery should last around five years but if you’re having trouble getting your car to start it’s best to get your battery checked.

5: Check the condition of your tyres

The car tyres are especially important in the winter as steering and braking in snow and icy conditions can be of difficulty and dangerous if not done carefully. Check the tyres for pressure and tread depth. Compared to the legal limit of 1.6 mm in normal weather conditions, it is recommended there should be a minimum of 3mm depth during the winter to ensure a better grip.

6: Wash your windscreen/wipers/windows

Clean your windscreen and windows from both inside and out. Make sure to top up your screen washer fluid as well. Its important your windscreen and windows are clear so that you have the best vision possible. In the winter it is easier for your windscreen/windows to get dirty, so keeping the screen washer fluid topped up is important to ensure they are clean at all times.

7: Carry a winter breakdown kit in the boot

Carrying a winter breakdown kit will ensure you are not stuck in the freezing cold with anything to keep you warm and safe if you should breakdown. The kit should include a shovel, blanket, luminous vest, screen wash, food and drink, de-icer, spare coat, a charger for your mobile phone and a torch. These kits are available on many websites and can be bought at a good price at places such as www.amazon.co.uk.

8: Use a foil windscreen cover

To avoid your screen freezing up or potentially getting covered in snow, purchase a windscreen cover so that you can keep your screen clean and protected during winter. Windscreen covers can be used all year round, including summer, to protect your car from getting too hot.

We hope this article has helped and you now feel confident in preparing your car for winter.

How To Fix A Smelly Dishwasher

The dishwasher plays an important role to keeping your kitchen looking clean. You’ve cooked and eaten your dinner; all the dirty plates and cutlery are in the dishwasher and your kitchen is looking spotless. You can’t help but notice everything looks clean but there’s an awful smell coming from your dishwasher. You assume that your dishwasher is clean if it’s cleaning your plates and cutlery? Well, no, not really – your dishwasher can get dirty and start to smell for a number of different reasons. Read below about 4 ways to get rid of that nasty smell coming from your dishwasher.

1: Wash the inside/interior walls of the dishwasher and racks

The first thing you can do is give your appliance a good clean. You may be getting a bad smell simply because of the grime that has collected throughout the inside of the dishwasher. Remove the racks, as they will just get in your way. Use a rag with some hot soapy water to scrub the interior walls, this can be a hard job if the grime has been there for a long time. A textured rag may help with scrubbing.

Once you have done the inside of the dishwasher it’s a good idea to quickly soak the racks in hot water while you can. Its unlikely the racks have anything to do with the smell, however cleaning them takes minutes.

2: Clean the drain filter

If your dishwasher is giving off a bad odour, the drain filter could potentially be the reason. The drain filter can collect food particles, meaning over time it can become very dirty. You should have a detachable filter where all of the water drains, you will need to remove this filter by removing the bottom rack and twisting it out. Wash the filter with soap and hot water then place back in to the dishwasher.

3: Place a cup of distilled white vinegar in the top rack of the dishwasher

This is one of the most popular ways of getting rid of any bad smells coming from your appliance. Of course, make sure there is nothing in the dishwasher whilst cleaning using this method. Even though vinegar itself has an interesting smell, the acid in vinegar is good for removing bad odours. Place a cup of distilled white vinegar on the top of rack of the dishwasher and run a cleaning cycle.

Once you have done this, it is a good idea to then go with the baking soda method. Sprinkle a cup of baking soda over the bottom of the dishwasher. Baking soda is another product well known for removing bad odours. Run another short cycle, make sure the water is at the hottest setting to ensure all the baking soda dissolves.

After you have done these two steps, your dishwasher should be smelling fresh and clean.

4: Clean the spray arm

The spray arm can also get clogged up with food, just like the drain filter. If the spray arm gets clogged, it loses the ability to clean the items properly. The debris also leads to the bad smell coming from your dishwasher. Remove both the upper and lower spray arms and remove any food particles over the sink. Run water through both spray arms to ensure all holes are clear.

We hope by reading this article you have learned something new and are now educated on how to remove any bad smells coming from your dishwasher. Don’t forget that here at Smart-Cover we offer dishwasher insurance from just £6.29 p/m. Get a quote today.

Do You Need Excess Protection?

Excess protection saves you from paying a high excess. If you make a claim on an existing insurance policy, you are entitled to pay an excess. When you take out a policy you will usually be given two options to choose from, compulsory excess or voluntary excess.

Compulsory excess – When getting a quote from the insurer you will see that some will set a compulsory excess amount, this is an excess amount that you will have to pay if you make a claim, you cannot change this amount as it is set in place and not negotiable. The amount will depend on certain factors for example for a car, the type of car and its age would be considered.

Voluntary excess – This is an amount of excess that you can control and set yourself, some people add extra voluntary excess on top of the compulsory excess as this can reduce your premium, but make sure you pick an amount that you can afford if you do have to make a claim.

How does excess protection work?

Paying excess for an insurance claim can be expensive, excess protection is an insurance policy that recovers the excess costs.

Let’s say you buy car insurance that has an excess of £500, and you damage your car, the damage costs are £2500. You will have to pay £500 towards the claim, and your insurer will pay the rest in order to fix your car. With excess protection you can claim the excess amount of money back.

So, for the £500 excess example, if you paid £90 annually for excess protection, you would save £410 from the claim. This obviously will save you paying a large amount of money.

If you claim on an insurance policy, you will pay the excess amount that you agreed to when buying your policy, and then the excess insurance will return the money back to you.

How much does Excess Protection cost?

The cost of excess insurance will all depend on the insurer and also the amount of excess that you want to be covered. For example, if you are protecting a small excess of £100 you could pay as little as £1.50 a month! However, if you’re protecting an excess of £600 you may pay up to £8 a month.

You may be wondering are you really saving money from buying excess protection? The answer is a very big YES! Think about it, from as little as £2 a month you could save hundreds of pounds if you have to claim.

Types of Excess protection:

Single policy – The covers excess on one insurance policy, for example your car.

Lifestyle – This covers the excess on multiple insurance policies, for example your car, gadgets and health.

Excess insurance for car hire:

Excess insurance is great for things like car hire, the reason being that car hire companies can make you pay a high excess, due to the risk of damage to the car. If you damage the car during the hire, you may have to pay thousands of pounds excess, which is a substantial amount. Excess insurance will stop you from paying this large cost.

Here at Smart-Cover we offer Excess protection from just £1.80 a month. For an excess of £500 you can be protected for just £50 annually saving you £450 if you claim. Get a quote today.

10 Things You Didn’t Know Your Smartphone Could Do

1: Scan QR Codes Without an App

There’s no need to use an app to read specialised QR codes anymore as you can simply use your iPhone’s camera. All you have to do is point your camera at the QR code and it will scan automatically. You will then receive a pop-up notification with the product page link or website. You can also do this if you have an Android, just open Google and enable the screen search, using the same process as with iPhone.

2: Create Custom Vibrations

If you’re someone that often has their phone on silent, you’re going to find this one useful. You can custom vibrations on your smartphone, making it easier to identify if it’s your parents ringing you, or just a scam call. To do this go to Setting > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone/Text tone > Vibration > Custom > Create new vibration. Once you are here you can customise the vibration pattern.

3: Search Photos by Category

Don’t want to scroll through 2,000 photos to find one picture you took months ago? Don’t worry, finding a specific image is easier than you may think. You can use the search function at the top of your photo app and search by category. For example, type in the word “dog” and photos of you and your dog should pop up.

4: Play Your Favourite Show on Your TV

Bored of watching movies on your smartphone’s small screen? Would rather watch it on your TV? Well, now you can. If you have an iPhone, you are able to mirror whatever you’re playing on your smartphone, on to your TV. Swipe up on the home screen and you will see where it says, “screen mirroring”, make sure to stand fairly close to your Smart TV and enter your airplay passcode. You can still do this if you own an Android phone, if you have a Chromecast or Chromecast enabled device. If you don’t own a Smart TV, you can still use this feature just by using third party apps such as ‘Reflector’ or ‘Air Server’ on to your computer and using the mirroring feature as described.

5: Update Siri’s Pronunciation

If you’ve ever noticed Siri has been pronouncing a specific word or name wrong that you use often, there’s an easy way you can fix this. Once you’ve activated Siri, you can say “you’re pronouncing (word) wrong,” and you will be asked the correct pronunciation. Then you will be given a list of options for correcting Siri and you can choose the correct one.

6: Shake to Undo Mistakes

Want to quickly undo a message without pressing back continuously for a long time, simply shake your iPhone and an option will appear to undo what you have written. You can still do this if you own an Android smartphone, just download a shake to undo module to enjoy the same effect.

7: Measure height and distance

No need to own a measuring tape anymore, both Android and iPhone can measure everything for you all through your camera. Download the app Smart Measure Pro (Android) and Dot Measure (Apple). Both of these apps use your smartphone’s camera to measure the distance, height, width, and area of a target.

8: Monitor Your Heart Rate

If you are conscious of your health or interested in monitoring your heart rate, then this app will be great for you. Both iPhones and Android have an app you can download to monitor your heart rate. Android&iPhone – Instant Heart Rate app. The app uses your camera to track your heart rate, and its free!

9: Foreign Language Translation (Google Translate App)

Nobody ever thought it would be this easy to translate foreign languages within seconds. You don’t even have to type in words anymore, with the Google Translate app all you have to do is point your smartphone camera at anything with printed words on for example a road sign. The app will display an English translation in the picture, within seconds.

It works with languages such as Italian, French, Portuguese, Russian, German and Spanish. For Android and Windows users, you’re in luck, as you can enjoy the app without having to be connected to the internet.

10: Keep You Safe While Walking Home

With the majority of young children now owning a smartphone, they and the rest of the public often feel a little on edge when walking to places alone at night. There is now a way to keep safe by letting contacts e.g. your parents, track your location. The app bSafe, available for both Android and iPhone allows you to set a timer, so that if you don’t arrive somewhere in the time allocated, your selected contacts will be notified. The app can even schedule fake calls to make it seem as if you are talking with someone while walking home.

How we help

Don’t forget here at Smart-Cover we offer smartphone insurance, protecting you from theft, loss, damage and more.

Contact us via our website or call us on 03333 449 559 if you would like to find out more, our customer service team will be happy to help with any queries you may have.

Do You Need Boiler Insurance?

Boiler cover is an insurance policy that pays the costs of repairing your boiler if it breaks down.

If you rent your home, you shouldn’t need boiler insurance as this should be covered by your landlord. You may have boiler cover included as part of your home insurance policy, which also means you wouldn’t need boiler cover.

However, if you do own your home, making sure your boiler is taken care of and protected against breakdown should be a priority, especially now the summer months have finished. If your boiler does break down, there’s a high risk of you potentially being left without heating and hot water for days. It might seem easy to not think of insuring your boiler and of dealing with any problems if they happen, but boiler break downs can be sudden and can leave you with a huge repair bill.

Having your boiler covered means an engineer will come to your home if your boiler breaks down. You will be covered for the call out, the parts and the labour, leaving you with peace of mind and no expensive bills to pay.

While in the summer England can get pretty hot, temperatures can drop very quickly in the winter, as such heating and blankets become essentials. You may think it’s a waste of money to insure your boiler as you may think nothing will ever go wrong. Those people that have previously experienced a boiler break down will know just how important it is to have the boiler working. Having no hot water or heating in the winter months is very unpleasant to say the least. If you’re unsure whether you really need to pay for a monthly insurance policy, then below are some key points to consider when making your decision.

Having no hot water is a disaster

Every house needs warmth to feel like home, especially in the winter. Washing the dishes or having to shower in cold water is something nobody should have to do. How long would you be able to go without a hot shower?

With boiler insurance its unlikely you will ever have to wash in a cold shower as someone will be on their way to help as soon as possible.

It can be expensive to replace a boiler

If you don’t have your boiler covered and your boiler suddenly breaks down, you are at risk of a huge bill to repair it. It’s hard to say just how much it would cost as its different for everyone, however when adding up the cost of labour and parts it can soon get costly.

A boiler breakdown can happen overnight, and with it needing to be fixed as soon as possible, it can be hard to find the money in a short period of time.

Getting covered with insurance saves time

If your boiler breaks down it can mean you have to find an available engineer to look at the problem, and then make sure you have someone trustworthy enough not to rip you off and do the job properly. To do all of this and find the right amount of money can all get stressful, especially if you already have other things to think about.

With insurance you are one phone call away from a bunch of people that will take on the problem and send an engineer out to help you, giving you peace of mind. Once you have phoned your insurance company you can relax knowing it is being handled by a dedicated team. No stress, no comparing quotes and no costly bills.

Boiler insurance doesn’t have to be expensive

Boiler insurance can be more affordable than you think. The price of cover for you will be based on things such as the model and age of your boiler. Its worth getting a quote to see just how much you would pay, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Smart-Cover offer boiler cover from £5.99p/m and offer basic, essential and premium packages so that you can get cover tailored for your needs. Get a quote today.